Re: Adaptive Image Element Proposal

On Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:14:06 +0200, Steve Faulkner  
<faulkner.steve@gmail.com> wrote:

> As previously discussed and bugged I do not support the addition of an  
> alt attribute to the picture element.
[...]
I agree. I am not a fan of the alt attribute as the way to incorporate  
alternative content, and would prefer to see a model like object or video.

As a further specific proposal, I would note that the art direction case  
means it makes good sense to have very different images fulfilling a  
similar function in the page. The current note that suggests peoplemight  
want different alt implying they have different images is not incorrect.  
but it would be better to point out that the alternative content is part  
of the function of the page, not the layout. Just as different images can  
be placed in the same page to replace each other, replacing by the  
alternative content should mean the page is still functional.

(A subtle way of saying "picture of a man and a woman in a blue shirt with  
a small dog and a corporate sunset" is description, not a text  
alternative...)

> The way I envisage <picture> to work is similar to how <canvas> is  
> supposed to work and does work as currently implemented in a number of
> browsers. i.e. the sub dom content is only visibly displayed in browsers
> that do not support canvas, but the sub Dom content is always available
> in the accessibility tree.

Given a need for interaction not just via assistive technology, but also  
when the browser itself is providing assistive functionality, I am not  
sure where the line here should be drawn. I think the issue is more  
complex than it appears, although I would be happy to find it is even  
simpler.

> The difference in implementation that I would suggest
> is that no interactive elements be allowed in the picture sub dom as
> picture is not an interactive element.

What do you do for image maps? (This is really a question to both Steve  
and Mat...)

[...]

cheers

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - Consultant (web standards) CTO Office, Yandex
       chaals@yandex-team.ru         Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Friday, 31 August 2012 20:02:22 UTC